THE TRANSITION: News Analysis -- Challenging the Military; In Promising to End Ban on Homosexuals, Clinton Is Confronting a Wall of Tradition

By ERIC SCHMITT,

Published: November 12, 1992

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11—
In saying today that he would honor his campaign pledge to lift the military's ban on homosexuals, President-elect Bill Clinton is challenging one of the military's most entrenched traditions.

Gen. Colin L. Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that removing the ban "would be prejudicial to good order and discipline." The military has dismissed more than 15,000 homosexuals in the last decade to enforce the policy.

As Commander in Chief, Mr. Clinton can impose his order on the armed forces, just as President Harry S. Truman did in 1948 did when he ordered the integration of the Army, and Mr. Clinton's aides say he will do that shortly after he becomes President on Jan. 20. But his remarks today seemed to acknowledge a need to negotiate the method and pace of the change with General Powell and his colleagues to gain their support. Mr. Clinton addressed the issue a day after the Navy said it would comply with a judge's order to reinstate a gay sailor, Keith Meinhold. Worries About Discipline

Senior military commanders acknowledge that tens of thousands of homosexuals already serve in the 1.8-million-member military but keep their sexual orientation secret. Many officers say that the problem is not that homosexuals are there but that if the ban is lifted they will openly display their homosexuality, possibly undermining the morale and discipline of fighting units.

"It is difficult in a military setting where there is no privacy, where you don't get choice of association, where you don't get choice of where you live, to introduce a group of individuals who are proud, brave, loyal, good Americans but who favor a homosexual life style," General Powell said in testimony before the House Budget Committee earlier this year.

Clinton campaign advisers are poring over various proposals of how to rescind the ban against homosexuals in the military. Some Clinton advisers say that senior members of the transition team in Little Rock, Ark., and in Washington are in the early stages of formulating a new policy. 'Huge Culture Shock'

"This is a huge culture shock to the military, and he's sensitive to that culture," said one official familiar with Mr. Clinton's transition team. "You can't expect people to change attitudes overnight. It's one of the most tricky issues that could be raised."

In remarks to reporters following a Veterans Day address at the Capitol in Little Rock, Mr. Clinton said: "How to do it, the mechanics of doing it, I want to consult with military leaders about that. There will be time to do that. My position is we need everybody in America that's got a contribution to make that's willing to obey the law and work hard and play by the rules."

Mr. Clinton is walking a fine line between keeping his promises to gay people who backed him in the Presidential campaign and avoiding a rash of resignations that has been threatened in the tradition-bound military, as well as recruiting problems.

"There's a huge amount of superstition, hostility and ignorance about what gay people are," one senior Pentagon official said today. "Certainly it's wrong-headed, but it's real and exists. So the question becomes: How do you do this in a way that says to the country, 'I'm committed to change but I don't want to degrade the ability of the military'?" Variety of Proposals

Some proposals that Clinton advisers are reviewing would halt the discharge of homosexuals, most of whom are given an honorable but involuntary discharge when their sexual orientation is discovered. After the discharges are halted, the proposals anticipate moving gradually to study broader steps. But it is more likely that the ban will be lifted immediately, allowing homosexuals to enlist in the services and enabling existing service members to stop hiding their sexual orientation. Some proposals go as far as reinstating discharged service members with back pay, a financial burden that Mr. Clinton is unlikely to accept.

"I don't think there will be any kind of fine lines drawn or lengthy executive order," said David Mixner, an influential fund-raiser and adviser to the Clinton campaign on gay issues. "The only commitment he made was that there'd be no discrimination against gays in the military in the future."

Public opinion polls show that most Americans favor lifting the ban, though it is unclear how deep that support runs.

One traditional reason for keeping homosexuals out of the military has been discarded. A study done for the Pentagon a few years ago found that homosexuals were no more of a security risk, in this case, being susceptible to the threat of blackmail, than other soldiers. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney himself called that reasoning an "old chestnut" last year, but still said he supported the ban.

The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, released a report in June that found that the ban on homosexuals cost the Pentagon at least $27 million a year in investigations and perpetuated a policy that was unsupported by science and sociology.

Former service members discharged from the military for homosexuality say that General Powell and other commanders who oppose rescinding the ban vastly overstate the potential for disruption.

"If you are a gay man or lesbian and join the military, you want to fit in, you want to conform," said John McGuire, a lawyer who served as an Army captain for four years. "People I worked with in the Army knew I was gay, but I didn't hold up a huge sign. My commanders never asked me about it. In a lot of cases, I'm sure it never crossed their minds."

Mr. Clinton's promise to rescind the ban is likely to render moot a growing number of court challenges to the policy, including the one by Mr. Meinhold which led the Navy to agree on Tuesday to reinstate him.